


Being Human

by celestaeil



Category: NCT (Band), Red Velvet (K-pop Band), SEVENTEEN (Band), VIXX
Genre: Alternate Universe - Being Human (UK) Fusion, Alternate Universe - Not K-Pop Idols, F/F, F/M, Leo hates sushi, M/M, Moon Taeil is scared of the moon, This is a late Victorian Suit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:54:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22785979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestaeil/pseuds/celestaeil
Summary: In which a vampire, a mermaid, a ghost and a werewolf end up sharing a house, and try to pass as human (key word: try). Seungwan has a hard time trying to be seen by humans, keeping Seungcheol off the blood, stopping Taeil from biting people, and keeping Taekwoon out of the bathtub.They may find their humanity, but supernaturals all get exposed eventually.
Comments: 14
Kudos: 17





	1. Episode 1: Fangs and Fins

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the UK series Being Human, but with kpop idols as the characters. Rights to the concept are not my own.

Episode 1: Fangs and Fins

"Why would you need this?" the dark-haired man asked his tall, fair-haired friend. "You don't eat sushi."

The blond shuddered. "I'm not a fish-murderer, Seungcheol. I just like seaweed." He waved a packet around, as if that emphasised his point. "I like the… crunchiness."

The shorter sighed as armfulls of seaweed sheets were dumped in the basket he was carrying. Several packets fell out onto the floor. His friend, in the meantime, has disappeared beyond the next aisle in the supermarket. Muttering to himself, Seungcheol pulled up his pant legs (so as not to stretch fabric at the knees) and crouched to pick up the dried seaweed.

"Oh, fins!"

"What is it now, Taekwoon?" he grumbled, following the sound of the blond's voice.

"What are these?" Taekwoon wailed, subconsciously tugging his blue beanie further over his pointed ears.

"I haven't the faintest idea," Seungcheol remarked. "The sign reads toe socks."

Taekwoon gagged. "It's an abomination. Imagine how restricting that would be on your feet! Imagine it, Seungcheol!"

"I wouldn't want to," he grunted. "Come, let's leave," Seungcheol told him, grabbing the taller's arm.

"You two are the cutest couple I have ever seen," the cashier gushed as Taekwoon clung to Seungcheol's arm.

The blond almost burst out laughing, forgetting his terrible experience with the toe socks. Seungcheol resisted the urge to roll his eyes. It was easier not to bother saying anything at all when people (read: everyone they came across) assumed they were together. Of course, they lived together, and in some ways it was easier to let people believe they were boyfriends.

"Thank you," Seungcheol said flatly, swiping his card and stuffing the mountains of seaweed into shopping bags.

"Are you making sushi at home?" the cashier asked.

"No! Disgusting fish murderer!"

Seungcheol dragged him out of the supermarket.

"You're the one saying I should blend in," the dark-haired man pointed out, frowning at his friend, whose flip flops slapped the ground with every step.

"That's because you dress like Mr Darcy," Taekwoon pointed out.

"This is a late Victorian suit," Seungcheol said indignantly. He adjusted his deep red waistcoat under his overcoat. "Not regency attire. Completely different."

Taekwoon scoffed.

"Anyway, people wear all sorts of things these days."

"And people are vegan these days," Taekwoon said. "No better time to not eat fish!"

"It is a trend," he replied with distaste. The two of them earned looks from passers-by as they walked down the streets of London, and it was hard to tell which of them was more out of place.

The two were an odd pair. They had been friends for many years, Taekwoon declaring that he owed Seungcheol his life, thus never leaving his side from that moment onwards. Seungcheol wore an antique suit, his hair combed back, but his dark wavy locks still managed to fall over his forehead at every opportunity. His pale skin rarely blushed and his eyes were a warm deep brown. He might have looked harmless enough with his short stature but he was stronger than he looked.

Taekwoon, on the other hand, was tall and lithe. His blond hair was a little too long, falling his eyes but doing well to hide his pointed ears. He always wore a hat, even in summer, similarly the only shoes he liked wearing were flip flops. Combined with his baggy hoodie and board shorts, he looked only slightly too clean to look homeless. His cheekiness balanced out his friend's sensibilities.

"More people just care about the turtles, these days!" Taekwoon argued. "Why have you got to be so negative?"

"It's a trend," Seungcheol emphasised.

Taekwoon rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You've spent years being this sour."

The dark-haired man shrugged.

"Probably just 'cause you're a vampire."

"I didn't know all mermaids were so chipper."

Taekwoon grinned, stopping to open the foyer door to a run-down block of flats. Seungcheol followed him inside.

Their tenancy was almost at an end. Cardboard boxes - some filled and some with items spilling out of them - were dotted about the lounge area in their small apartment. The paint on the walls was peeling and the carpet needed replacing, but it had been a decent enough home for the two of them for the past eight years. Now the landlord was selling on, so they had to go.

"Dunno if I'll miss this place," Taekwoon commented as he took off his flip flops and tossed them into a nearby box. One bounced out and Seungcheol put it back. "It's still been home for a while."

"A fleeting moment," Seungcheol replied, half-serious. He had spent some three hundred years as a vampire, so eight of those was almost nothing.

Taekwoon pulled a face and flopped down on the worn sofa. The cushion sagged under his weight. "Still. Where to next, then?" He took out his phone, opening the Maps app.

Seungcheol absently stooped to pick up Taekwoon's clothes from the floor. He started folding shirts and putting them in a box. "I've already ruled out most of the Midlands," he said, "We spent much of the 20th Century there. We've been back to London five times. Scotland is off-limits; I'm not stepping a hundred miles in Seungkwan's range."

"Makes sense. What about Cardiff?" 

"There's a werewolf situation right now," he replied.

"Yeah… don't really want to get involved with that. What about Brighton?"

"We were there '66 to '71."

"Glasgow?"

"Glasgow is in Scotland."

"Barry?"

"Incident of 1987."

"Okay, then - where's left?"

Seungcheol stopped folding. "I was thinking Cornwall."

"Cornwall… ooh, it's near the sea! Sounds perfect, I'm in." Taekwoon grinned.

"I was hoping you would be," the vampire said, returning his smile.

"I'd better get some new swimming trunks."

***

Son Seungwan reclined in an armchair in the Blue Room. She put her feet up, her chunky Dr Martens with the permanent scuff marks, on a small stool and folded her arms behind her head. Sunlight broke through the dirty window, the drapes spotted with mold and every surface covered in a thick layer of dust. The old tube TV showed static in one corner, a couple of tea lights burning low on a coffee table, sitting atop a pile of romance novels.

It was her childhood home. Her family had probably lived in Cornwall for generations, they never seemed to leave the place. It was only after her death, that they had all moved away.

Two youths could be seen from the window. Seungwan rolled her eyes. People sometimes came to the abandoned house; drug addicts, the odd homeless man, teenagers messing around. It wasn't much different to in her day, she thought. 80s kids were supposedly the wildest, anyway. She hasn't aged a day since 1985 (which was arguably the best year ever, apart from the part where she died).

"Come on, this place has been empty for years," said one voice, trying the front door.

"Don't think we should be here," said the other. He sounded younger, less rough, and more scared.

"Stupid. Help me pick this lock," said the older man, "I can't do it with my fat hands."

The younger scoffed. Seungwan could still see them in the window. The one at the door was tall and lanky with the blood shot eyes of an addict. The shorter one had a childish innocence, but looked about twenty. He had neat, dark hair, and wore a denim jacket that was cut too big for his small frame.

"Don't think we should be breaking in," the smaller reasoned, when the lock clicked open.

"Eh? Didn't need your help after all," the older said smugly.

Seungwan smirked from the Blue Room. She lowered her hand and waited for the two young men to enter. She absently moved her too-long blond bangs out of her dark brown eyes.

A floorboard creaked in the hallway. There was a pause and Seungwan knew they were looking at the welcome mat, faded and scuffed with time.

"Is that… blood?"

They couldn't get the stain out after she died.

"Place is abandoned. Come on, let's see if they left anythin' expensive."

"Really don't like this, Taehyung. Can't your friends use their own money for drugs?"

"Shut up, Taeil! Don't talk 'bout that here."

The Blue Room door creaked open. Seungwan vanished.

The taller, Taehyung entered first. The smaller followed, noticing the candle. A thin trail of smoke spiralled upwards.

"Tae, think someone's here…"

"All this shit is well old," Taehyung said, ignoring him. The taller picked up a dusty book, tossing it down before leaving to explore the other rooms.

Taeil crept towards the mantlepiece, where a photograph of a girl in her twenties was framed on the wall above it. She had blond hair, bangs framing her dark eyes. There was a strange familiarity about her, but Taeil couldn't remember ever seeing her before. The weird thing about the mantlepiece wasn't the strange blue ceramic ornaments or the old Walkman with the headphone cord hanging down - it was the fingerprints in the dust.

"We definitely ain't the first here," Taeil muttered, catching himself as he realised he had spoken aloud.

The young man clapped a hand over his mouth and glanced around the Blue Room. Was he really alone there?

"Come up here!"

Taeil nearly jumped out of his skin. Sparing one last glance about the room, he made for the door and slipped through. Following his brother's voice, he stopped at the foot of the stairs. Taehyung's face appeared on the landing.

"Loads of jewellery and shit in the bedroom," he said, motioning for him to come up.

"Still think we should go, Tae," Taeil piped up. "Someone's been here."

Taehyung shrugged. He held up a handful of gold necklaces. "Find a bag so we can shift this. I've started the drugs already."

"Where?" Taeil asked warily, placing a hand on the banister. He began to climb the stairs, noticing more photo frames along the wall. There were more pictures of that blonde girl.

At the top of the stairs was a pink bathroom, tiles crusted with mold. He turned to where a bedroom door was ajar. Taehyung was stuffing rings and bracelets into a bag in a bedroom that was overwhelmingly purple.

The window was draped with dark purple fabric, the dirty bedclothes were lavender and even the carpet was a purple tone, though steeped with dust. A tall white wardrobe stood in one corner, the cracked mirror distorting Taeil's reflection.

"The stash is under the mattress."

"Okay."

Taeil reached for the wardrobe door handle, feeling a chill up his spine. He opened the door, and standing between the dresses was Seungwan.

"What the fuck!?"

"The fuck you screaming about?" Taehyung demanded, turning round. He saw nothing but clothes in the wardrobe.

Seungwan smiled, and vanished.

"You didn't see…?"

"You're mad," Taehyung chuckled.

A bulb flickered on and off.

"Thought the electricity would be off," the older mused.

"We need to leave," Taeil rambles, grabbing his brother's arm.

"Don't be stupid…" Taehyung began, but stopped as the bedroom door slammed shut. "Who the fuck?"

"It's a ghost!"

"Shut up." The taller went for the door, but it wouldn't open.

Seungwan tried not to laugh on the other side as she held it closed. Eventually she let go and Taehyung yanked it open and rushed past her. Taeil saw her in the doorway and was afraid to even go near her.

"Go on, then," she said, moving aside, "Fuck off."

"Sorry, we'll get out of here!" Taeil stammered, glancing at her before running past. He bumped into his brother in the middle of the stairs, knocking him down the rest of the way.

The door slammed and they ran down the garden path.

***

"Is that it?" asked Taekwoon as Seungcheol pulled into the cul-de-sac.

"Yes, that's the one," he answered.

"It's kind of romantic," the mermaid mused, adjusting his hat. He had replaced his blue beanie with a white bucket hat, but the rest of his outfit was still as scruffy as usual. He opened the Volkswagen door and stepped out in his flip flops and board shorts, sniffing at the summer air.

"It will need a good clean," Seungcheol remarked, getting out and locking the car door.

Ivy crept up the sides of the brown brick walls, and the front lawn was overgrown, the path almost invisible. A For Auction sign now read Sold, sticking out into the road beside a small apple tree that was in desperate need of pruning. The windows were filthy and the red paint was peeling on the front door. But it would do well as their home for the next decade or so.

"Got the keys?" Taekwoon asked, eager to see the place.

"Here," said Seungcheol, throwing them. The blond caught them with ease and unlocked the door.

Seungwan was sitting in the Blue Room, and bored. She idly reached over to the side table and began to write in the dust. She got as far as fuck- when she realised she didn't have much more space. So she added a me and left it as it was.

The door lock clicked and she glanced up.

"It's not bad for an auctioned place," Taekwoon remarked as he went through. He stopped at the foot of the stairs, turning to see Seungcheol who had stopped at the door threshold. "What's up?" He asked.

Seungcheol was staring at the decades-old blood stain on the welcome mat.

"Ew, murder, love that," Taekwoon remarked, wrinkling his nose.

"No wonder they couldn't sell it," the vampire replied, stepping delicately over the welcome mat and entering the house.

Taekwoon went exploring, popping into the kitchen, the second living room and the cupboard under the stairs.

"It's nice!" he said. "Once we clean it up, I mean."

Seungcheol found the door on the left ajar, opening it to find a room that was rather blue in decor. It was empty, but his gaze was drawn to the writing in the dust.

"Cheol, I think someone might have been here recently," said the mermaid, following his friend into the Blue Room.

"I agree. Perhaps we mistakenly purchased a property with a ghost."

"A horny ghost," Taekwoon added, seeing the writing on the table. "A haunted house? Nice."

"Careful what you wish for, ladies," said Seungwan, appearing in the centre of the room.


	2. Episode 2: This House is Haunted

"Holy shit!" Taekwoon yelped, clinging to Seungcheol's coat.

The vampire almost felt his dead heart restart.

"Oh, so you can see me," said Seungwan, crossing her arms over her jacket.

"Yes," Seungcheol replied. "I assume you are a ghost."

Seungwan inclined her head. "And you two are…?"

"I'm Taekwoon," said the blond man, giving a nervous grin. "Mermaid. And he's a vampire."

"Choi Seungcheol," the shorter added. "I was under the impression this house was unoccupied."

"Yeah, estate agents can't see ghosts, apparently," Seungwan mused. "So what are you doing here?"

"This is our house," the mermaid began. "I mean, he bought it! For us to live in."

"Didn't think my house would be bought by a gay couple," she remarked. "I see society really has moved on."

"We're not a couple," Seungcheol said flatly.

"You're from the 80s!" Taekwoon said suddenly. Seungcheol shook the taller's hand from his arm.

"Really, how did you work that out?" Seungwan drawled.

"Has no one lived here since…?" Seungcheol trailed off, not knowing how to phrase the delicate subject.

"1985," said the blonde girl, flopping down in the armchair.

“Have you been here ever since then?” Taekwoon questioned, looking quizzically at the retro furnishings and old tech.

“I died then, so yeah,” said Seungwan, “Thought that much would be obvious.”

“Well, seeing as I bought the house,” Seungcheol began, but the ghost interrupted.

“I didn’t know mermaids existed,” she said, tilting her head to one side. “Don’t touch my Walkman,” she snapped, and he jerked his hand away from the mantlepiece.

“Most people don’t believe ghosts exist,” he replied with a shrug.

She looked him up and down, flip-flops and all. “Why do you have legs?”

“Hey, now-” said the vampire.

“So I can walk, duh,” Taekwoon replied, smiling.

“Of course,” Seungwan remarked. “And you,” she said, turning her attention to the black-haired man.

“Yes?” he answered, sweeping his coat back to put his hands in his trouser-pockets.

“Are you safe?”

He looked at her. “Yes,” he said, after a moment. “I’m safe, if that’s how you want to put it.”

“Seungcheol’s been dry for years, now, so don’t worry!” Taekwoon said brightly. “How long has it been, Cheol?”

“Fifty-five years.”

“Exactly,” said Taekwoon, clicking his fingers and pointing at the ghost. “So you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“Great,” Seungwan drawled.

“Now that we’ve made some small talk, shall we get out bags from the car?” the mermaid suggested.

“Sorry, ladies,” Seungwan said, standing up. “If you think I’m your new housemate, think again.”

“You’re leaving?” Taekwoon asked.

“No, get the fuck out of my house,” she said, throwing an arm in the direction of the front door. Seungcheol didn’t look surprised.

“I think we can come to some sort of compromise-”

Next thing they knew, the vampire and the mermaid were standing outside the house, door slammed shut in their faces. It was starting to rain.

“Well, that could have gone better,” Taekwoon muttered.

“You don’t say,” Seungcheol said. He sighed, his gaze falling to the spots of peeling paint on the front door. Taekwoon turned and walked down the garden path. “Where are you going?” he asked.

“I’m going to sit in the car,” the mermaid sighed. He pulled out his smartphone and opened the passenger door. “It’ll be hard not to turn if my feet get all wet.”

“It’s not raining that much,” he pointed out.

“I feel switchy today,” Taekwoon said, moving his blond bangs out of his eyes. He got in the car.

Seungcheol let out a heavy sigh and knocked on the door.

“I told you to fuck off!”

The vampire pinched the bridge of his nose. He knocked again.

“Do you understand English?”

The squeaking sound of the car window slowly winding down accompanied that of the rain.

“I don’t think she wants to let us in,” Taekwoon called, sliding on a pair of red-lensed white-framed sunglasses.

“I gathered that,” Seungcheol told him. Taekwoon slowly wound the window back up to stop the water getting in. “At least tell me your name,” he called, in half a mind to pry the letter box open and shout through the gap. But he had more dignity than that. “I’m sure we can sort something out with this whole situation.”

“I doubt it!”

“Please let us in,” Seungcheol said, trying not to whine (he had to maintain some sort of reputation), “I did buy your house, but Taekwoon and I weren’t to know that you were still living here. I’m really rather sorry about that, but we need somewhere to live.”

“Do I sound like I give a fuck at all?”

The rain was coming down harder and Seungcheol ran a hand through his dampened hair, pushing it back from his forehead.

“Look, it’s getting rather wet out here and-”

“You have a car.”

“We must be able to come to an agreement, and perhaps have a conversation that involves us being inside and not out here.”

“I didn’t ask for this, okay?” Seungwan told him. “Shit, I didn’t even ask to die. No one asked me if I wanted fucking housemates! Who asked me what I wanted?”

Seungcheol nodded, even though she couldn’t see him. “I understand your position.”

“Then fuck off like I told you to.”

“Taekwoon and I aren’t leaving,” he said. “I can see that we are inconveniencing you, but please do let us in. I certainly never thought I would live with a friend, but circumstances can change. Taekwoon and I have been living together for over a century, and who knows? Perhaps we might become friends of yours, too. We would be the quietest housemates imaginable, we don’t wish to impose on you unnecessarily.”

There was a pause.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” Seungcheol echoed.

“Yes, I said o-fucking-kay,” she snapped, and the door lock clicked open.

“Taekwoon!” the black-haired man called, gesturing for the mermaid to leave the car.

The blond peered over his narrow sunglasses, looking up at the rain with distaste. Fine, he mouthed, and opened the car door. Seungcheol opened the front door, holding it open as Taekwoon ran (as fast as he could in his flip-flops) up to the house.

“Ugh,” he muttered, shuddering as Seungcheol closed the front door. He swiped at the rain on his arms and legs, pulling off his hat to dab at his feet.

“Gross,” Seungwan commented, standing in the Blue Room doorway with her arms folded.

Seungcheol shook his dark hair, taking off his wool coat and hanging it on the leaning hat stand near the door.

“Shit, aren’t you just out of the 1600s.”

“This is a late Victorian suit,” Seungcheol stated.

Taekwoon snickered, hooking his beanie onto the hat stand. He went to step out of his flip-flops, but decided against it when his gaze was drawn to the blood-stain on the welcome mat.

“He’s actually from the 1700s, but same difference,” said the mermaid, entering the Blue Room when Seungwan moved out of the way.

“Not really-” said Seungcheol.

“You know, you’ve got a nice place here. Once we clean it up, that is.” Taekwoon continued, crossing to the doorway that led to the kitchen.

“Yeah, once you two clean it up,” she replied.

“I thought you didn’t want us here,” Seungcheol said.

She looked him up and down again, then turning her gaze to the blond, who was sneezing as soon as he opened a cupboard.

“You’re on probation,” she told him.

“Probation?” Taekwoon repeated, sticking his head into the Blue Room. “For how long?”

Seungwan chewed on a fingernail. “Three days.”

“More like three weeks,” Seungcheol argued, “We can’t find a new place that quickly.”

“Okay, five days.”

The vampire repressed a groan.

“Please can we have a tiny bit longer?” Taekwoon asked, pouting. Seungwan’s lip curled in what was somewhere between a sneer and a smile.

“How about two weeks?” Seungcheol suggested.

“Fine, a week. Final offer,” she told him, sitting down in the armchair again. She crossed one leg over the other, then crossed her arms.

“Right,” he muttered.

“What’s your name, by the way?” said Taekwoon, “You never told us.”

“Son Seungwan,” said the ghost.

“Nice to meet you,” said Seungcheol, more out of polite habit than actually agreeing with his own statement.

“What he said,” the blond said with a grin. He was cute. Seungwan didn’t want to admit it, but the mermaid was growing on her already. The vampire, on the other hand, was not.

“Better get cleaning, ladies,” she added. “You’ll want to make a good impression on me, right?”

“Of course, we’ll clean!” Taekwoon answered. “Like I said, this house is pretty nice.”

“And what if we fail to make a good impression?” Seungcheol questioned.

“Always the pessimist,” Taekwoon said exasperatedly.

“Then you’re out,” Seungwan said with a shrug.

“And what am I supposed to do if I can’t sell the house?” he pointed out, “Humans aren’t going to be as accommodating as us, and it would be wrong to sell whilst you’re still here. I’ll have you know, I’m not made of money.”

“Seungcheol, you kind of are-”

“Quiet, Taekwoon.”

“I guess you’ll just have to change my mind,” Seungwan said, narrowing her eyes. “I get to decide whether you have to leave or not.”

“A week,” Seungcheol conceded. “And I’ll accept your deal.”

“I’m a supernatural, you can shake it,” he said.

“Okay, deal,” she said.. “But, my house, my terms.”

“And what would those be?” he asked.

***

“Gosh, she gave us a right list, didn’t she?” Taekwoon grumbled.

Several hours had passed. The two had got their luggage from the car, placed it in two of the bedrooms, and were now cleaning.

“The ghost has quite the catalogue of demands,” Seungcheol agreed, his outer jacket and waistcoat discarded, his shirtsleeves rolled up and a pair of yellow rubber gloves on his hands.

“That’s just a fancy way of saying ‘list’,” the mermaid whined, scrubbing furiously at the mold behind the taps in the kitchen. He was wearing a pair of pink rubber gloves, having refused to take off his flip-flops (he was still freaked out by the blood on the welcome mat) but had been wrestled into an apron by Seungcheol.

“Well, we needed to clean the place, regardless,” he commented, applying bleach to the grout between the tiles.

“Still.”

Seungcheol checked his pocket watch. “We still have a few hours, so let’s finish the kitchen and the living room.”

“Can we stop, then?” Taekwoon almost pleaded.

“We should at least dust and vacuum the bedrooms we will be sleeping in,” he pointed out, and the blond huffed out a sigh. “Ah, at least this is coming clean,” he said, scrubbing the wall. “You were right, it’ll be nice once we’re done.”

“Where are we sleeping?” the blond asked “There are three or four bedrooms up there.”

“There’s three,” Seungwan said, appearing in the kitchen doorway.

“Fins!” Taekwoon stammered. “Gosh, can you stop doing that?”

Seungwan smirked. “Sorry, I’ll walk next time.”

“Really?” the mermaid said.

“Nah,” the ghost replied, crossing her arms. “This is so much quicker.”

“Yeah, I can imagine the time it would save,” he mused. “So, anyway: are you sleeping in one of the rooms already?”

“I don’t sleep,” she stated.

“Ghost; right,” he said, shaking his head.

“His point still stands,” Seungcheol piped up, crossing the room to wash the sponge in his hand.

“You can sleep anywhere but the Purple Room,” she told them, and then vanished.

Taekwoon felt a chill. “I wish she would stop doing that.”

“I just hope she will allow us to remain here,” Seungcheol said.

Later, once Taekwoon was tired out from all the cleaning, Seungcheol was dusting two of the upstairs bedrooms. He had left his own luggage in a red room, whilst Taekwoon had taken the other; a turquoise-filled room. The mermaid was lounging on the sagging sofa in the living room, using up all of his phone data. His biggest complaint so far was the lack of Wi-Fi in the house. Seungcheol had promised to get that sorted, but Seungwan had forbidden any type of rewiring until their probation was over.

Damp dusting cloth in one gloved hand, cleaning spray in the other, Seungcheol left the Red Room and walked across the landing. He came to the Purple Room, seeing the door ajar.

“Hey,” Seungwan uttered, appearing in front of him, arms spread as if to protect the door.

Seungcheol started, taking a step back. Then he sighed. “I was just cleaning,” he began, but the ghost shook her head.

“I said you couldn’t come in here,” she interrupted.

“If I recall correctly, the only thing you said about this room was that we aren’t allowed to sleep in it,” he reasoned, moving towards her.

“No,” said the blond girl, putting a hand out. It met Seungcheol’s chest.

“I can’t stand dirt,” he tried to explain, “I can just give it a once-over.”

“I said no, Christ,” she retorted, pushing against his chest so hard that he stumbled backwards a few paces. Ghosts are unnaturally strong, for reasons Seungcheol had yet to find out. Made a better match for vampires, at least.

“All right,” he said. “I’m sorry.” The expression on her face was difficult to decipher. Was she upset? Or just angered?

“Right, now, fuck off,” she muttered, vanishing. The Purple Room door was pulled shut from the inside.

Seungcheol just shook his head and headed back downstairs to put the cleaning supplies away.

“Oh, there you are,” Taekwoon said, grinning when he saw Seungcheol enter the Blue Room. “I was just thinking - isn’t it a bit wack that each room is a different colour? Like, each room is only that colour.”

“Wack?” Seungcheol repeated, going through to the yellow kitchen.

“Yeah, like crazy or weird,” Taekwoon clarified.

“I can’t keep up with your colloquialisms,” the vampire remarked. He came and sat down beside his friend.

“Well,” Taekwoon scoffed, “At least one of us has to keep up with society.”

“I’m sure polite society doesn’t use such vocabulary,” he reasoned.

“The rest of society isn’t stuck in the Regency period,” Taekwoon chuckled. He looked at Seungcheol. “Are you pissed? You’re speaking more posh than usual.”

The vampire raised an eyebrow. He rolled his shirtsleeves back down, buttoning the cuffs. “I am well.”

“No, you’re not,” Taekwoon corrected. “I am well,” he muttered. “What’s up?”

“Just a little unsettled, Taek.”

“Because the house is haunted,” he said knowingly. “Yeah, totally get that. Seungwan seems nice and all, but the whole ghost thing is a bit…”

“The house has a strange feeling,” Seungcheol agreed. “Seungwan has been here since the 80s. I wonder why she hasn’t passed over yet.”

“Maybe she doesn’t know what her Unfinished Business is,” Taekwoon suggested. He glanced at the window. Darkness had fallen, the sparse streetlights like far-away stars.

Still feeling restless, Seungcheol got up and walked to the window.

“Full moon tonight,” he remarked, pulling the net curtain aside.

“And the werewolves come out to play,” Taekwoon said with a smirk.

Upstairs, Seungwan was sitting one the corner of the Purple Room. She was fiddling with an old gold necklace, given to her on her eighteenth birthday by her older sister. Joohyun had been the perfect one, the studious one, the reliable one. Despite Seungwan’s occasional (read: often) resentment towards her, Joohyun was the one to listen to her problems, let her complain, badmouth ex-boyfriends along with her, and encourage her when their parents were more interested in why Seungwan’s grades were slipping.

That was the horrible thing about being stuck here. Seungwan was lonely. She was consumed by it. Screaming and crying when her family discovered her dead body, attending her own funeral and sobbing as much as her sister had, she hated that she couldn’t have just stopped existing. Why did she have to see everyone she ever cared about missing her? Until they left, and Seungwan felt trapped in the house where she had been murdered.

She was shaken from her thoughts by a howl. She looked up at the window, the open curtains revealing the small bright circle of the full moon. Was it just the wind? The howl sounded again, and Seungwan suddenly felt colder than she ever had (and she was perpetually cold as a ghost).

It was the howl of a wolf.


	3. Episode 3: Scared of the Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Moon Taeil runs to the woods but cannot escape the full moon. Taekwoon and Seungcheol go grocery shopping. Seungwan and Taekwoon momentarily bond over bullying the vampire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Episode title inspired by the Thriller-era Michael Jackson song of the same name that was kept in the vaults and never officially released.

**Episode 3: Scared of the Moon**

As the sky turned from duck egg blue, to deep orange, to navy, a chill seeped through Moon Taeil’s jacket and into his bones. He could feel a tingling, like pins and needles, starting in his toes and slowly beginning to travel up his ankles, then his calves. He was walking out of his apartment, wary of his older brother hearing him leave. But Taehyung was probably high and passed out by now.

Taeil felt a gnaw of guilt in his stomach. (He was also hungry, but that was beside the point.) Stashing drugs at someone’s house - ‘abandoned’, Taehyung had suggested - felt wrong. The short, brown-haired man couldn’t explain it, but he couldn’t get that girl’s face out of his head. She was there, blond hair and dark eyes, pretty face; she was laughing, even now. He had never believed in ghosts, but recent events were such that he was willing to give the idea a chance.

The air might have seemed cold to the average person, not that many people were out in the council estate, but for Taeil it was more than just cold. It was a creeping darkness that surrounded him, and it only seemed to grow stronger as the sky grew darker. He pulled at the denim jacket, as if wrapping it tighter around him would stave off the inevitable.

Thick clouds drew in, blocking out any twinkle of starlight. The estate was derelict, the darkness providing cover for any dealer or homeless person lurking under the old bridge. A muddy stream became a rushing river as Taeil passed the odd tree, the ground becoming soft with grass underfoot. A owl hooted, a fox rustled a bush on its way home. The tingling had reached Taeil’s fingers.

He had reached the woods.

Dark eyes wide, he turned in circles, hoping and praying that he wouldn’t see anyone. A twinge of pain hit him behind the eyes. He pressed his hands to the sides of his head, doubling over as a spasm went down his back. He cried out, on his knees and grabbing fistfuls of dirt as if that would somehow stop the process.

A pale white light came over the clearing. It was cold, unwelcoming, but Taeil’s gaze was drawn upwards to the source. The moon had emerged from behind the clouds, stark and unforgiving. He was gripped with fear. Irony crossed his mind for a brief moment; Moon was his name, yet it was his waking nightmare.

“No, please-” He cried out again as waves of pain came over his body. He felt his bones cracking, rearranging themselves, new muscles forming. He was screaming, weeping, howling as he went through the torture. He was changing, sickeningly slowly. His teeth lengthed, he grew claws, and was soon covered in fur with a piercing pair of yellow eyes.

Moon Taeil the man was now a wolf. His fur was an oak brown all over, apart from the fair snout and paws that kneaded at the ground underfoot. The wolf blinked up at the moon, cocking his head to one side. He shook out his fur, sniffing at the air and taking in all of the sights and sounds of the woods.

The wolf ran off into the night.

***

“Morning, beautiful~”

Seungcheol groaned. He threw an arm over his face, blocking out the daylight, but his hand was tugged away.

“What is it with you and closed doors?” the vampire grumbled, and the mermaid let out a melodic laugh. He crossed his arms and peered down at his friend.

“I don’t see why you would need to bring that up,” Taekwoon remarked, and Seungcheol opened his eyes, only to glare at him. “Besides, it’s kinda irrelevant that your door was closed.”

“What do you want?” Seungcheol grumbled, rubbing at his eyes. They appeared bloodshot, and Taekwoon briefly wondered if, in fact, blood had crossed the vampire’s mind recently.

“Eh, he’s probably just tired,” the mermaid muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Taekwoon said with a grin. “I just want breakfast.”

“Then go and prepare yourself something to eat,” Seungcheol said, through gritted teeth. He rolled over, blankets slipping off his pale shoulders and back. 

“We have no food.”

“For goodness’ sake,” the vampire said exasperatedly. He looked up, black hair tousled, and gave such a look that the mermaid took several steps backwards. “You couldn’t just take my card and find the grocery store yourself?”

“Seungwan said it’s far away,” the blond whined as Seungcheol grudgingly got out of bed.

“Seungwan says a lot of things,” Seungcheol grumbled, pushing past his friend as he moved towards the bedroom door.

“You talking shit about me?” the ghost’s voice sounded from the landing.

The vampire, unimpressed and still half-asleep, left his room. Seungwan was leaning on the bannister, already scowling, but she was soon distracted by Seungcheol’s bare chest. It was one thing being so dapper in his Georgian (or whatever he called them) suits, but seeing the muscles bulging beneath the alabaster skin was something else.

“What do you want?” he questioned.

“Nothing,” she responded, tearing her eyes away from his abs. “I only advised Taekwoon here about getting something to eat. Clearly I can’t go fucking grocery shopping, can I?”

“Clearly,” he said, his voice clipped. “But seeing as I apparently have to baby-sit,” he added, narrowing his eyes at his friend, “Perhaps we do need to go shopping for groceries.”   
  


Seungwan gave a sarcastic grin before vanishing.

“Still gives me the creeps,” Taekwoon muttered, shuddering. His face brightened at the thought of breakfast. “Well, shall we go?”

“Perhaps you’ll allow me to take a shower first?” he asked pointedly.

“Yeah, just hurry up, I’m starving,” Taekwoon whined. “And there’s nothing on TV.”

Seungcheol didn’t even bother replying. He just went to take a shower in peace, emerging from his bedroom some twenty minutes later, fresh faced and dark hair still damp. He buttoned his waistcoat as he went down the stairs, adjusting his tie that accessorised his more modern attire.

“No cravat today?” the mermaid remarked as Seungcheol entered the Blue Room.

“A contemporary tie will suffice to go grocery shopping,” the vampire replied, tucking his pocket-watch into his waistcoat.

Taekwoon and Seungwan were sitting on the sofa in front of the small vacuum tube television watching Antiques Roadshow.

“Oh, don’t tempt me,” Seungcheol commented at the appearance of a small pearl brooch on the screen.

“Didn’t think you were this lame, but it also doesn’t surprise me,” Seungwan said, throwing the vampire a glance. Seungcheol wasn’t offended, but he was occupied with the observation that the brooch was a fake.

“It’s not 1920’s genuine,” he said.

“I’m going to fucking turn this off in a second,” the ghost said exasperatedly.

“Oh, no, don’t let him stop you from watching,” Taekwoon said, flapping a hand in the air. He adjusted his white bucket hat and grinned. “Can we get you anything at the store?”

“She cannot eat,” Seungcheol pointed out.

“I thought it would be polite to ask!” Taekwoon uttered. “Fins. No one asked, ‘Cheol.”

Seungwan rolled her eyes and pretended to watch the television.

“Anyway, see you in a bit,” the mermaid added, looking like he wanted to pat Seungwan’s arm or something, only he soon realised that his hand might pass straight through her (and that notion made him feel nauseous).

“That’s if I let you back inside,” she reminded him.

Taekwoon gave a small sigh, got up, and followed Seungcheol out of the house.

“Can’t you two get along?” he whined as he followed the vampire down the garden path, flip-flops slapping the concrete slabs as he went. He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his blue hoodie, that he wore with his usual board shorts.

“Taekwoon-”

“It’s like you’re not even trying!”

The vampire sighed, pausing at the side of his car. “Look, it’s not that I’m not trying-”

“Not trying hard enough, then,” Taekwoon interrupted. “Yesterday you convinced her to give us a probation.”

“I was woken up to early,” Seungcheol grumbled, knowing his excuse was poor before he even finished his sentence.

“Yeah, grumpy-chops,” the mermaid said, shaking his head. “Let’s just go, we need to get eggs.”

The two drove to the shops, Taekwoon fiddling with the radio until Seungcheol threatened to remove it from the car entirely, the remainder of the short journey elapsing in silence. The mermaid grabbed two baskets as they entered the store, pushing one into Seungcheol’s hands and going off in search of his favourite breakfast foods. The vampire went to get milk and butter, slightly concerned as to how long they would actually be able to stay at that house. On the plus side, they only needed to buy food for a few days at a time. But hopefully, Seungwan could be brought round to the idea of permanent housemates.

_ Not permanent, necessarily, _ he reminded himself as he perused the fresh vegetables section. Seungwan might well finish her Unfinished Business and pass over. But a small part of his brain told him this was unlikely; he wasn’t sure why, but he got the feeling that Seungwan maybe didn’t even know what her Unfinished Business was. And even though she continued to irritate him, he found this unsettling.

“There you are!” Taekwoon appeared on the other side of the bean sprouts. “I found the cereal.”

“Excellent,” Seungcheol said, eyeing the full basket of junk food when Taekwoon came to join him.

“Are you done?”

“Yes,” the vampire replied, “I had packed the other dry ingredients, so we’re not in need of those.”

“Let’s check out, then,” Taekwoon said, and the two headed towards the check-outs.

The grocery store was fairly small, and not too crowded, although - of course - Seungcheol and Taekwoon received some funny looks from other customers.

“Are you together?” the cashier asked, a small brown-haired man with a scratch on his cheek. His name-tag read  _ Moon Taeil,  _ and his short hair was a little disheveled, his employee uniform ill-fitting.

Seungcheol was about to give the standard ‘ _ no, we are not a couple’ _ response, when Taekwoon answered,

“Yes, and he’s paying.”

“Okay,” Taeil replied, and started scanning the items.

The vampire had barely batted an eye at the young man behind the till, until the automatic doors opened and brought in a breeze. The gust was so strong that it ruffled Taeil’s brown hair. The hairs on the back of Seungcheol’s neck went up. He inhaled, catching the distinct - if just faint - scent.

“Wolf,” he growled.

“What, Cheol?” Taekwoon questioned as his friend’s dark eyes narrowed on the cashier.

Taeil absently scratched at the deep cut across his cheek that disappeared into his hairline. It looked old, yet fresh at the same time, a pinkish-grey colour.

“That’ll be twenty three dollars and forty seven,” he said. Seungcheol stopped staring and paid for the groceries.

“What’s up with you?” the mermaid asked him as they left the store.

“Wolf,” Seungcheol said, shaking his head. They walked towards the little parking lot where he had left the car.

“Where?” Taekwoon said, looking around.

“The kid that served us just now,” he explained, unlocking the car.

“He didn’t smell so bad,” the blond reasoned, tugging his hat over his pointed ears.

“He’s only recently been turned,” he guessed, sliding into the driver’s seat, “His scar was fresh. He must have only undergone one or two transformations as yet.”

“Well, isn’t that just like catching an archerfish, huh?” Taekwoon remarked as they drove back to the house. “Or… an Atlantic wolffish!”

Seungcheol suppressed the urge to groan.

“Get it?” the mermaid snickered. “One: they’re a super rare species, and B: we found a werewolf~”

The vampire rolled his eyes. “At least keep your numbering consistent.”

“B isn’t a number, though.”

“My point exactly.”

“Whatever, I’m starving! I need me a seaweed pizza, like, an hour ago.”

“Do they even make those?” Seungwan asked, leaning on the front door-frame. She watched as the two supernaturals came up the garden path.

“Nah, but I’ve got loads of dried seaweed in my bedroom,” Taekwoon replied.

“That’ll be where the smell is coming from,” she remarked.

“Ghosts have no sense of smell,” Seungcheol stated as he passed her on his way into the house, and Seungwan made a face behind his back. “There’s no need to be juvenile,” he added.

“I thought I was the ghost around here,” she grumbled. “How come I don’t have eyes in the back of my head?”

“Breakfast time,” Taekwoon said, sighing happily as he produced a packet of dried seaweed from the cupboard. He put a frozen pizza in the oven and munched on a sheet of green as he waited.

“Please can you eat more quietly?” Seungcheol asked as he put the kettle on.

“Why, is it bothering you?” Taekwoon asked innocently, pulling himself up onto the counter and dangling his legs.

“I’m getting a headache,” the vampire grunted, spooning a liberal amount of freeze-dried coffee into a mug.

“Oh,” the blond said, dragging out the word. “You don’t get headaches often, only when-”

“When what?” Seungwan asked, appearing in the room.

“Agast!” the vampire spluttered, spilling coffee granules across the counter. “May I kindly ask you to  _ stop doing that?!” _

“Christ, who got up your ass?” she scoffed, crossing her arms.

“Look, I’m sorry if my disposition isn’t as sunny as yesterday,” he snapped, making his coffee and then attempting to scrape instant coffee back into the jar.

“Does he-”

“Talk posher when he’s pissed? Yes,” Taekwoon interrupted Seungwan.

“Good to know,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “But, really, what’s up with you?”

Seungcheol pinched the bridge of his nose. Then he took a swig of his black coffee. “We met a wolf.”

“A wolf? Like, a wolf-wolf, animal-lookin’ wolf?”

“No, a werewolf,” Seungcheol explained. “We can smell them.”

“When he says ‘we’ he doesn’t mean ‘we’ like ‘me and him’,” said Taekwoon. “It’s more of a ‘we’ as in ‘vampires’.”

“Right. So you could smell this werewolf?” Seungwan said slowly. “He just looked human, though, right?”

“Yeah, but he had this big scar on his face, like here,” the mermaid replied, dragging a finger from his hairline down his cheek.

“What did he look like?” Seungwan questioned.

“Short, young, brown-hair, innocent-stupid kind of look,” Taekwoon answered.

“‘Innocent-stupid’?”

“That’s being kind about it,” Seungcheol commented. He set down his empty mug and started making another coffee.

“Fuck, you’re really not a morning person, are you?” said the ghost.

“He’s a vampire?” Taekwoon pointed out, and he and Seungwan started laughing.

“Stop making fun of me,” he growled, and the look on his face made them both shut up immediately.

“The werewolf was our cashier,” Taekwoon added, hopping down from the counter to check on his pizza in the oven.

“No need to call him stupid just because he’s in a minimum wage job,” Seungwan said.

“You were a waitress when you were alive,” Seungcheol uttered in realisation.

“Bar-tender,” she corrected.

“Damn it.”

***

“Look, kid, we’re going to have to let you go.”

Moon Taeil was standing in his manager’s office at the grocery store, uniform folded on the desk in front of him. Even his nametag sat on top in a sad sort of way. He sighed, looking back up at the fat man in the chair.

“Sir, please understand, I need this job-”

“One incident of the store room getting trashed whilst you were on the night shift is already grounds for dismissal,” the manager continued, “But again, last night. That’s almost twice in one month!”

“Sir, I wasn’t here last night, I swear!”

“Sorry, it just seems like too much of a coincidence. You seem like a nice kid,” he told him. “But I can’t have you working here anymore. You’re dismissed.” He reached for an envelope on his desk and handed it over. “Here’s your pay.”

“Sir…”

“Get out.”

Taeil walked out of the office in his worn denim jacket, t-shirt and joggers, his scuffed trainers dragging on the floor as he left the building. He checked the envelope.

“Twenty quid,” he muttered, pocketing the note and scrunching the paper in his fist.

He was officially unemployed. After the twenty quid went on the rent, he was broke. Heck, he was in the negative.

“What am I gonna do?” he sighed as he reached the little park in the centre of the neighbourhood. 

He sat down on one of the swings and idly let his short legs dangle in the air.

“I’m gonna get kicked out of the flat. I’m gonna starve… I’m gonna be dealing with this shit-” he gestured to himself angrily, causing the swing to oscillate wildly, “-on the streets!”

A lone kid on the climbing frame gave him a weird look before climbing down and running away.

Taeil buried his face in his hands. He needed money. He needed somewhere safe to transform, where he was sure no one would find him and probably kill him. (For that he needed money.)

An idea suddenly began to spark in his head.

“I’ll get the drugs back.”


	4. Episode 4: No One Asked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Taeil thinks going back to get the drugs from the not-so-abandoned house is a good idea.

Jung Taekwoon had been in several chases on foot during his rather long lifetime, and several car chases in fact - and one particular chase on horseback. But none of those fateful times, although having involved Seungcheol, had never involved a werewolf.

Taeil was running as fast as he could, but Seungcheol was definitely giving him a run for his money (pun intended) in his navy slacks and white undershirt. The vampire was gaining on the small werewolf, who was now fearing for his life after Seungcheol had bared his fangs. They ran through the neighbourhood, with Taekwoon a block or two behind them (mermaids weren’t as fast on land).

And the young man wondered  _ how _ he had gotten into this mess in the first place.

Let’s go back to the point where it all started for Moon Taeil.

_ Five weeks ago… _

“Come on, you fucking idiot, we’ll be late for the pick-up.”

Taeil rolled out of bed and onto the floor at the sound of his brother’s voice, waking him from his fitful sleep.

“Yeah- coming,” he grunted, clambering off the floor in a fight with his duvet. Then he was grabbing at the nearest floor-shirt and floor-jeans he could get his hands on, hurriedly dressing as Taehyung continued to nag from the kitchen.

Mold and damp climbed up the walls of the tiny room that they shared from the flat below, and there was a lingering smell of weed throughout the flat. Taeil rubbed his nose as he pulled on a hoodie, following his brother out into the hallway of their block. 

“We’re gonna be fucking late,” Taehyung grumbled, hands deep in the pockets of his jacket as they went down the stairwell. He pulled a cigarette packet from his joggers and lit one as soon as they got out of the main doors at the front of the building. The collection of cigarette butts, remnants of glass bottles and other rubbish was like flotsam and jetsam on a beach.

Still, he could have it worse. Like, not being able to pay the rent, for example (which is exactly where he would find his situation in about five weeks).

Taeil sighed as he walked faster to keep up.

“This way,” Taehyung grunted, stopping on a street corner, a few blocks later. He dropped his cigarette on the pavement and crushed it with his shoe, before gesturing for Taeil to follow him down a sidestreet. The maze of alleyways that followed made the shorter unsure if he would be able to find his own way home.

“So where’s-”

“We’re here,” Taehyung interrupted, climbing the back stairs to a first floor flat. He rang the doorbell.

“Taehyung, man.” The door opened to reveal a stranger who looked like he’d just woken up, in crumpled and stained clothes. He was smoking a blunt.

“Hoseok,” Taeil’s brother replied.

“Come in. This your brother?”

“Yeah, that’s Taeil,” Taehyung said as he entered the flat, which smelled as dirty as it looked.

“Hiya, darlin’,” said a woman, perched on a sofa with a bottle of beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Her hair was a mess, her eyeliner was smudged and she was wearing one of Hoseok’s shirts which barely covered her.

“Don’t mind Vicky,” Hoseok said, flapping a hand. “Can I get you boys a drink?”

“No, thanks,” Taeil muttered, wishing that Taehyung had asked him to stay outside like the other times.

“Sorry, can’t stay, man,” Taehyung said, almost apologetically.

“Alright, down to business.” Hoseok opened a cabinet and took out a plastic bag. “Here she is. Who you selling to?”

“Usual guys. Under the overpass,” Taehyung answered, tucking the back inside his jacket.

“Alright, sit tight with that until dark,” Hoseok advised. He took a drag from his blunt. “It’s a good batch, so don’t let the police take it off you.”

Taehyung laughed. “Fuck off, Hoseok. As if. You know me,” he said with a grin.

“Sure, man,” he said, clapping him on the shoulder. “You come back here with the money tomorrow and I’ll give you your cut.” Hoseok looked at Taeil, as if remembering he was there. Taeil was trying to avoid both looking and being looked at by Hoseok’s girlfriend. “And him?”

“Nah,” Taehyung said slowly. “Don’t worry about him.”

“Yeah, I ain’t involved,” Taeil agreed. “Barely,” he added.

“He’s too cute for this business,” Hoseok mused. “You know, kid, if you wanted to get set up with another kind of business-”

“I’ve got a job,” Taeil said quickly, not interested in Hoseok’s proposition in the slightest.

“Let’s be going,” said Taehyung, nodding towards the door. “See you tomorrow, Hoseok.”

“Later, man,” Hoseok said, flopping down next to Vicky. “Careful under the overpass.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Taehyung replied, opening the front door. “Come on, Taeil.”

Taeil didn’t hang about and followed his brother out of the flat, and back through the maze of side streets.

“Meet me at nine pm at the bridge,” Taehyung told him. “We’ll get this off our hands and take the money to Hoseok tomorrow.”

_ “Our?” _ Taeil repeated, but Taehyung was already walking off.

“I’m meeting the guys. You better fucking be there tonight.”

Taeil couldn’t really back out, since there was a chance that Taehyung might actually kill him. So he just went to his supermarket job and when it was dark, he walked towards the bridge.

The river was quiet, the water rushing gently under the bridge, reflecting the night’s sky. The town centre was lively and lit up, but even the street lights seemed to wane towards the poorer side. A police siren sounded in the distance, and an uneasy feeling grew in Taeil’s stomach. He waited, leaning on the bars as the wind moved through the trees and the river continued flowing.

A howl pierced the night air, and Taeil was suddenly alert.

_ It’s not a full moon, _ was the first thing that crossed his mind.

“What in the actual, fuck, Taeil?” he muttered. “Werewolves aren’t real. It’s probably a …fox.” He sighed, unconvinced.

Moon Taeil wanted to go home.

And it would definitely have been better if he had, because when Taehyung appeared and they went to the overpass, a scuffle turned into a brawl and suddenly there seemed to be wild animals in the midst of it. Glowing eyes in the dark, something sharp scratching across Taeil’s face and great jaws clamping down on his shoulder. Gunshots, running footsteps, then silence.

Taehyung had somehow escaped unscathed, and Taeil had stumbled home to find him drinking.

“What the fuck- oh my God,” Taehyung slurred. The sight of blood sobered him and he hauled Taeil onto a kitchen chair and pulled off his hoodie and t-shirt. “Holy shit,” he began, but doubled over and vomited into the sink.

“You left without me,” Taeil said, lightheaded. He could feel the wet sensation of the blood dripping down his back and down his cheek, but the pain was no longer there.

“My little brother,” Taehyung half-wailed. Taeil could smell the alcohol on his breath, the nearly empty vodka bottle on the table explaining why he had stopped making sense. Somehow, in his drunk stupor, Taehyung tied a shirt around Taeil’s shoulder and mopped up the blood on his face. “My baby brother,” he mumbled when he half-carried Taeil to the bedroom, letting him fall on his bed.

Moon Taeil let sleep claim him. When he woke up, the shirt around his shoulder had become untied, blood still caking what were undeniably bite-marks. He blinked. Light came through the cracked window in a pattern. He could smell his brother, who was definitely curled up and cradling a bottle on the sofa. Weirdly, he could hear birds chirping. He never heard birds from the flat.

“What the fuck happened?” he muttered to himself, sitting up. His shoulder didn’t hurt at all. He went to their tiny, grubby bathroom to shower. The dried blood washed off and went down the drain.

And that seemed to be the end of it, because when he looked in the mirror, there was a scar on his face and scars on his shoulder. But they looked… old. ‘Old’ like scars you got as a child when you fell off the swings and cut your knee open, or when you hit your head on the corner of a coffee table. Or a scar from sports. Not like a fresh wound from less than twelve hours ago.

His questions were answered a week later when the full moon had come out during his night shift at the store and he had trashed the store room before running off into the woods.

But there was still one thing bothering him: it hadn’t been a full moon the night he was attacked, so how had it been a werewolf?

_ Back to this morning… _

Moon Taeil had thought of the brilliant idea to steal back the drugs that he and Taehyung (mostly Taehyung) had left at that abandoned house last week. He had no job, no money, and little to no hope at this point. He went back, walking through the neighbourhood as innocently as he could. Then he saw the house.

What he failed to see, however, was Seungcheol’s car parked across the road. Taeil just walked straight up the garden path and peered in the living room window.

“Can I help you?” Seungcheol asked, appearing from behind a bush in the overgrown garden.

“Uh…” Taeil uttered.

The door opened, revealing Taekwoon in a green beanie, a ‘ _ The Little Mermaid’ _ t-shirt and board shorts.

“Are you collecting for something?” the blond asked.

“I don’t think so,” said the vampire, raising a pair of garden shears.

“You little fucker,” Seungwan said incredulously, appearing beside Taekwoon. “You hid drugs in my bedroom!”

“Oh, not me,” Taeil stammered, taking a few steps backwards.

“Yes, you,” she snapped, “You and your brother.”

The vampire’s eyes turned black and he bared his fangs. Taeil mumbled something unintelligible, his tan face painted with utter terror, and he started running as fast as he could.

“Seungcheol, he’s getting away,” Taekwoon said, and Seungcheol threw down the gardening tools, took off his gloves, then took off after Taeil. “Fins!” the mermaid said exasperatedly, and ran off after them in his flip-flops.

And that brings us back to the chase. A werewolf-vampire-mermaid chase, to be exact. Not something you see everyday.

Seungcheol eventually caught up with Taeil and tackled him to the ground. “You hid  _ drugs _ in our house?” he demanded.

Taeil stopped trying to crawl away and coughed. “We thought the place was abandoned. Please, don’t hurt me!”

“Oh, finally,” Taekwoon uttered, stopping when he reached them. He fanned his face.

“Why would a werewolf go into business with drugs?” Seungcheol asked, still pinning Taeil on the ground, holding his arms behind his back.

“It’s not me - my brother,” Taeil choked out. “He’s not… like me.”

“A werewolf,” Taekwoon said. “But he’s only a baby, Seungcheol, let him go.”

“No,” Seungcheol growled. “He’s coming back with us to show us where he hid the drugs.”

“Oh, come on-” Taekwoon began, but then gasped. “I broke my flip-flop!”

“Get up,” Seungcheol told Taeil, and kept an iron grip around Taeil’s arm when he had clambered up. A vein was popping in the vampire’s neck as he tried not to go into full ‘kill-mode’ again (as Taekwoon called it).

“These were my favourite flip-flops,” the mermaid said mournfully, the turquoise strap having been snapped in half.

“Serves you right for running in them,” Seungcheol grunted as he walked Taeil back to their house.

“Are you going to kill me?” Taeil asked faintly.

“I don’t want to start another werewolf problem,” he replied. “I expect Seungwan just wants to talk to you.”

“The woman?” the young werewolf uttered. “She’s a ghost, isn’t she?” His voice was filled with no small amount of despair as his world was collapsing around him. It was one thing turning into a wolf every full moon, but to acknowledge the existence of other supernatural creatures-

“Who turned you?” Seungcheol asked suspiciously. “There haven’t been wolves in these parts for a century.”

“I don’t know,” said Taeil, somewhat glad that the vampire was holding him upright, because his knees were rather wobbly at this point. “It was dark… I thought some wild animal got me or something.”

“Where was this?” Taekwoon asked curiously.

Taeil seemed to notice the mermaid properly for the first time. He looked from Seungcheol to Taekwoon, and back again.

“You’re a vampire,” he stated. “What is he?”

“Care to guess?” Taekwoon said with a grin. “Go on, kid.”

“You smell like seaweed,” was the first thing that came to Taeil’s mind.

“I’m a mermaid,” Taekwoon said, rather proudly. Taeil looked at him, then his gaze travelled down to his feet. “I have legs on land,” he told him, “It’s a thing. But I have gills, look!” He suddenly lifted his t-shirt to reveal several strange grooves that ran alongside his ribs on each side.

“We’re in public!” Seungcheol snapped, prompting Taekwoon to pull his shirt down with a mischievous look.

“Why is this happening to me?” Taeil said weakly, as they reached the house.

“I asked myself the same thing a long time ago,” the vampire remarked, pushing Taeil through the front door.

“We just want to talk,” Taekwoon said, trying to sound reassuring.

“Well, that’s for starters,” Seungwan added, leaning against the doorway to the Blue Room. “Sit down.”

Taeil went in and took a seat on the sofa. Taekwoon sat next to him and Seungwan flopped down in her usual armchair. Seungcheol stood by the mantlepiece, looking intimidating despite being in a soil-stained vest and slacks from working in the garden. Perhaps the exposure of his arms and torso actually helped - Taeil had a fleeting thought that the vampire could easily break him in half.

“So,” said the werewolf, clearing his throat awkwardly. “You’re a vampire, you’re a mermaid, and you’re a ghost,” he continued, pointing at each of them in turn. They nodded, and he dropped his hand in his lap. “This is insane.”

“Yeah,” Seungwan scoffed. “I wondered why you could see me that time.”

“Other people can’t see her?” Taeil asked.

“Only supernaturals can see ghosts,” Taekwoon told him.

“Lucky me,” he muttered under his breath.

“What did you fucking say?” Seungwan demanded.

“Let’s be rational,” Seungcheol said, and the ghost sat back in her chair and didn’t say anymore. “Tell us about the drugs. Then you can show us where they are, and be on your way.”

“Right,” said Taeil. “My brother is in the business, not me. We don't have much money so we share an flat, and I got a proper job but he got into drugs, you know. So he picked up the drugs and had to stash them somewhere. This house was supposed to be abandoned."

"No one asked for the sob story of your life but, thanks," the ghost drawled.

"Then she scared us off," Taeil added, nodding towards Seungwan, who smirked.

“Her name is Seungwan,” said Seungcheol. “So, you hadn’t returned to the house?”

“Taehyung was too scared,” said Taeil. “I only came back because…”

“Because what?”

“I needed the money,” he mumbled.

“How come?” Taekwoon asked. “Don’t you work at the grocery store?”

“I was fired this morning,” Taeil explained. “Because of some… incidents.”

“What incidents?” Seungcheol said shortly.

“I trashed the store room on the night of my first transformation,” he muttered.

“That’s kinda fucking stupid for a werewolf,” Seungwan remarked, her lips curling in a smirk.

“I didn’t know,” Taeil said indignantly. “I didn’t know,” he added, more quietly. “But the second time - it wasn’t me! I went to the woods that night.”

There was a moment of silence.

"We should probably fetch those drugs," Taekwoon piped up.

"Show us where they are," said the vampire, and Taeil stood up immediately.

"Lead the way," Seungwan told him, "We're right behind you."

"O-okay," Taeil mumbled, heading for the door. "Just saying," he added as he went up the stairs, "It was my brother's idea to come here-"

"Shut up and get the drugs," said the ghost.

Taeil hesitated outside the door to the Purple Room. He glanced at Seungwan, who rolled her eyes.

"Fine," she muttered, opening the door. "But you're right, this is my room."

"He was right to exercise caution," Seungcheol remarked.

"Excuse me?" the blonde questioned as Taekwoon eagerly followed Taeil inside the room.

"What?" Seungcheol replied. "You do have a temper."

"Oh, for-" Seungwan began, her face twisting in a snarl and her hand flying up to smack him.

His hand shot out (thanks to the vampire reflexes) and he grabbed hold of her wrist.

"Wait, what the fuck?" Seungwan uttered.

Seungcheol stared at his hand on her wrist.

"We got the drugs!" Taekwoon chirped, waving a plastic bag in the air.

Seungwan twisted her wrist out of Seungcheol's grip. She looked at Taekwoon and Taeil standing in the doorway to her bedroom and scowled.

"Alright, now get the fuck out of my room." She vanished, reappeared in the Purple Room, pushed them out onto the landing and slammed the door.

"Want to stay for tea?" Taekwoon said brightly. "I haven't spoken to a werewolf in ages!"

"No, he's leaving," Seungcheol said shortly. "Taekwoon, give him back the drugs." He looked at Taeil. "When you leave this property will you cease to be my problem?"

"Bit harsh," Taekwoon muttered.

"Yeah," Taeil said, stuffing the bag inside his jacket. "You won't see me again."

"Good, now be on your way," the vampire replied. "You tracked dried mud through the hallway when you came in."

"Sorry," the young werewolf mumbled as he went through the front door. The door closed behind him and he trudged down the garden path and down the street.

Inside, Taekwoon was standing in the kitchen doorway with his arms crossed. Seungcheol was reaching for the dustpan and brush.

"You didn't need to be so mean," the mermaid said pointedly.

"I don't deal with werewolves," he grunted.

"He's just a baby, Seungcheol."

"I didn't ask him to commit illegal activity in my house."

"No one asked you to be a rude prick either, Seungcheol, but here you are."

"Taekwoon-" he began, but the mermaid had already walked off.

Seungcheol sighed. He had chosen Cornwall to avoid werewolves - the nearest pack was in Cardiff, as far as he knew. But if there was a recent turning in their neighbourhood, he knew that Taeil hadn't stopped being his problem the minute he had left the house.

This was just the start of it.


	5. Episode 5: Wallowing in the Tub

Jung Taekwoon had lived an interesting life, even before he had met Seungcheol in 1880. So, of course, it was no surprise that the simple task of moving house wasn’t so simple. Moving house could cause stress for anyone, but a vampire and a mermaid had chosen a house that was haunted by a ghost, and now they had a potential werewolf problem. Trouble seemed to follow the unlikely pair of friends everywhere.

The next morning, Taekwoon blatantly ignored Seungcheol. He sat on the kitchen counter, obnoxiously munching on seaweed. He drank no less than three glasses of pineapple juice, which Seungcheol hated the smell of. Then he went up the wooden staircase and crossed the landing to the bathroom. He locked the door and sighed, turning the stiff taps on the bath to start it running.

Soon the small tiled room was filling up with steam, and Taekwoon took off his shirt and board shorts, leaving them on the floor. He was a noticeably tall man, with a greenish cast to his olive skin and well-defined muscles on his lean frame. Along his ribs were producing scar-like features, his beanie coming off to reveal pointed ears. Once he was fully undressed, he put one foot after the other into the warm water and lay down, arms hanging over the sides of the tub.

When he moved his legs to drape his feet off the edge of the bath, a shiny tail flopped over in their place. Taekwoon's green and blue tail extended to just above his hips, a faint marking of turquoise scales decorating his abs and chest. The markings on his ribs were clearly gills, and his fingers appeared to be webbed, a thin layer of translucent skin between each of them.

“Taekwoon?” Seungwan called, climbing the stairs. “Taekwoon?”

“Go away,” he replied, crossing his arms over his chest. His tail twitched in an annoyed fashion. He turned off the water as the level rose close to the top of the bathtub.

“Hey,” Seungwan said plainly, stopping at the bathroom door, where steam curled out from the gap between the bottom of the door and the carpeted floor.

"Go away," he whined.

Seungwan rolled her eyes. She pushed up her jacket sleeves and knocked on the door again. "Come on, Taekwoon."

"Well, you can come in if you want," he grumbled.

"What are you doing in there?"

"I'm in the bath."

Seungwan narrowed her eyes. She pressed her palm against the door and concentrated. Her hand moved through the wood as if it was water, then she stuck her head in.

"So that's what a head on a spike would look like," Taekwoon drawled from the bath.

"Well, fuck me," she uttered, staring at the shimmering green tail hanging out of the bathtub.

"Maybe another time," he replied, twitching his tail. Seungwan stepped into the room, the door dissolving around her until it returned to its normal state. Steam swirled around her as she walked over and crossed her arms.

"So what's wrong?" she questioned.

"I'm taking a bath," she stated, "Don't humans do that regardless of their mental state?"

Seungwan smirked. "True. But I know you're pissed at Seungcheol."

"Yeah," he scoffed. "Duh."

"Because of the werewolf."

"Duh."

Seungwan sat down beside the bath, the great tail fins hanging over her head.

"You think he was harsh?" she asked, drawing her knees up to her chest.

"Yeah, unduly," he remarked. He shook his head, sending drops of water flying.

Seungwan shrugged. "I guess he's cautious. Or just being a dick, like I was."

"Hey, you weren't being a dick," he told her. "This is your house, and having strangers barge in couldn't have been fun. But we had no idea."

"Yeah," she muttered.

"Hopefully we pass probation, though, right?" he threw her a smile, putting his hands behind his head. Water sloshed, almost splashing out of the tub.

"The werewolf incident wasn't too hopeful, but you're on track to being my housemates," she replied. "Permanently," she added darkly.

"Poor Taeil," Taekwoon chuckled.

“What is it with him and werewolves anyway?”

“Seungcheol?” he questioned. “He hates them.”

“I got that from his look-to-kill,” she replied. “But why?”

Taekwoon sighed. “Werewolves have caused us trouble for years. Seungcheol doesn’t talk about it, but a werewolf pack killed those closest to him.”

“People can get close to the vampire?” she said dubiously.

“Look at me,” he pointed out. “I think I’ve only seen a picture of the girl once. But never again. He really never talks about it.”

“Fair enough,” she mumbled. “Taekwoon,” she said after a moment.

“Hmm?”

“How… how come Seungcheol could touch me?” she asked quietly. “I mean, I’m a ghost and all…”

“It’s a whole thing,” he groaned, grabbing the sides of the tub to pull himself up into a sitting position. Water spilled out onto the carpet, passing straight through the ghost.

“What do you mean?”

“Supernaturals can touch ghosts,” he explained. “No one really knows how, or why, but they can. Many cross-species relationships have been recorded in supernatural history.”

“Oh,” she said. “So no one’s figured out why?”

“Nope,” he said, popping the ‘p’. “I don’t really give a fins, but it’s a quirk we have, I guess.”

“Right,” Seungwan said slowly. She frowned. Taekwoon smiled at her.

“Here,” he said, extending a hand towards her. She eyed his webbed hand, the greenish cast to his skin more prevalent now that he was in his ocean form.

“Nothing will happen, right?” she asked. “I won’t, like, suddenly cease to exist?”

He chuckled. “No. You’re totally fine.”

“Okay,” she replied, and reached out with one finger. She prodded his hand and he laughed.

“See, you’re still alive,” he remarked. “Well, that’s not exactly the right word…”

“I still exist,” she said, trying not to laugh herself. She shook his wet hand before letting go, the droplets of water on her fingers passing through her and falling onto the floor. “Curious.”

“If you like,” he remarked, shooting her a toothy grin. She suddenly realised his teeth were now all pointed like a shark’s. “Yeah, it’s a thing,” he said, and she shook her head.

“I guess I spent like thirty years not wondering if there were others,” she commented.

“Hmm?”

“Other… supernaturals, you know,” Seungwan mumbled, fidgeting with her hands.

“Not even other ghosts?”

She shrugged. “I couldn’t leave the house. Everyone I saw through the windows was human,” she replied. “And my family, and the people they tried to sell the house to… couldn’t see me. I didn’t want them living here so I scared them off.”

“So the house never got sold?”

“Until now.”

Taekwoon sighed. “Must have been lonely,” he suggested.

“Yeah,” Seungwan said.

The mermaid suddenly smirked. “Shame you wallowed in it for thirty years,” he quipped.

“Fuck off,” she snapped, though she started smiling, too. “What, like you are now?”

Taekwoon rolled his eyes. “I’m rightfully mad at my best friend, so I’m having a self-care day.”

“Is that what it is?” she drawled.

There was a banging on the door.

“Here we go,” Taekwoon muttered.

“Taekwoon?”

“Go away, Seungcheol,” the mermaid called.

There was an irritated grunt. The vampire knocked again. “Come on, Taekwoon. I need to talk to you.”

“I’m bathing,” he said plaintively.

“You’re talking to Seungwan, I can hear you.”

“Eavesdropping, are we?” Seungwan said dryly.

“No,” Seungcheol said quickly. “I just came by to talk to Taekwoon.”

“I happen to be bathing  _ and _ talking to Seungwan.”

“More like wallowing.”

“Oh, shut up.”

“Taekwoon, I just want to talk,” Seungcheol said, annoyed. “We need to talk about what happened.”

“Really. ‘Cause it sounds like you want to fight,” Taekwoon snapped. “If you cool off, we can discuss Taeil.”

“I don’t need to calm down,” Seungcheol said shortly.

“Kinda sounds like it,” Seungwan commented. “How about I talk to him? If he pisses me off, I’ll just fuck off to the attic.”

“We have an attic?” Taekwoon said with a shudder.

“Better than having a basement,” said the ghost. She got up, brushed down her jeans (even though nothing could get on them) and vanished from the bathroom.

She appeared in the hallway.

“Aghast!” he uttered, clutching at his unbeating heart.

Seungwan spluttered with laughter. “It really still scares the shit out of you, doesn’t it?” she wheezed.

Seungcheol scowled. “Unlock the door.”

“You think I can do that from the outside?” she sneered.

“You can walk through bloody walls!” he said explosively.

“Shant,” she said, crossing her arms.

Seungcheol rolled his eyes so hard that the ghost could only see the whites of his eyes. Even for a ghost, that was fucking terrifying.

“You are ridiculous,” he snapped, He turned and stalked to the Red Room. He emerged with a bang of the door barely a second later. He shrugged on a navy waistcoat and blazer over his white shirt.

“Where are you going?” she questioned.

“Out,” he said shortly, buttoning his waistcoat as he went downstairs. With a final adjustment of his blazer, he disappeared through the front door, slamming it behind him.

“What the fuck happened?” Taekwoon called from the bathroom as Seungwan dissolved in giggles. She transported herself back into the steam-filled room, relaying the story between hysterical gasps, setting Taekwoon off laughing.

“I can’t- fucking believe him,” she wheezed. “Ridiculous? He’s fucking ridiculous.”

“Fins,” Taekwoon giggled. “I’d have been worried letting him go off in a huff fifty years ago, but he’s become such a housewife.”

“Housewife,” Seungwan gasped, sprawled on the floor at this point, clinging onto the side of the bathtub. “Don’t disrespect housewives like that,” she practically cackled.

“You’re right, my bad,” he spluttered. “Let him storm off in his bloody suit for all I care.”

“Late Victorian suit,” she corrected, before bursting into laughter again.

Their obnoxious giggling filled the bathroom.

***

Seungcheol was halfway down the street when he reached for his throat.

“Bloody tie!” he shouted, a vein practically throbbing in his neck.

A couple of the neighbours walking by looked at him, confused. He awkwardly raised a hand, trying to look somewhat apologetic as he quickened his pace from an angry stroll to an embarrassed power-walk.

“I never go out without a tie,” he muttered to himself, sticking his hands in his trouser pockets. He felt almost naked without it, but out of principle, he wouldn’t return to the house.

His stiff leather shoes sounded evenly on the pavement as he walked away from the shops and cafes. He was still agitated as he reached the nearby park, the shouts of kids playing in the playground as their mothers gossiped outside the playground fence.

He sat down on a park bench next to some kid in a hoodie.

“Oh shit,” the kid whispered.

Seungcheol glanced to his left to see the shocked face of the young werewolf, Moon Taeil.

“Oh, come on,” the vampire grumbled. “What are you doing here?”

Taeil gulped. “It’s sort of… a long story,” he mumbled. “Why… are you here?” he added timidly.

Seungcheol sighed and leaned back against the bench. “Taekwoon isn’t happy with how I handled the situation yesterday,” he said flatly.

“Oh, you mean…”

“Yes, you, the drugs,” he said, waving a hand. “Perhaps I should apologise.”

“No, no,” Taeil said quickly. “The whole drugs thing was wrong.”

“Was it not your brother who decided to hide them in our house?” the vampire pointed out.

“Well, yeah, but-”

“Then you need not take responsibility,” he interrupted. “I acted rashly. So,” he added, begrudgingly, “Please accept my humblest of apologies.”

Taeil’s eyes were wide at the elevated use of language. Or “posh talk” is what Taeil would have said.

“So why are you here?” Seungcheol asked.

“Like I said, long story,” the smaller man said with a shrug.

“I’ve got all day,” he grunted. “They’re angry with me at home,” he said in response to Taeil’s confused look.

“Right, basically,” Taeil said with a sigh, “Taehyung took the drugs when I got back to the flat. He sold them and paid off his dealer.”

“So what’s the problem?”

Taeil looked even more glum. “He’s leaving the flat to live at the other guy’s place. I don’t have a job, and… I’m getting evicted.”

Seungcheol exhaled slowly. He tried to fight the urge of goodwill, but failed.

“For the love of God,” he muttered.

“Hm?” Taeil frowned at him.

Seungcheol’s reply was almost inaudible.

“Sorry, what?”

“Do you want to stay with us?” he grunted.

Taeil’s jaw dropped. “You what?”

“You heard me,” he said, irritated. “Just for a few days, mind you.”

“I… I don’t know what to say,” the werewolf stammered.

“Just thank me and we can move on.”

“Um. Thanks,” said Taeil. “So… uh, why do you hate werewolves?”

“Sorry?”

“It’s just, you seem to really hate werewolves.”

Seungcheol scoffed. “Indeed. I have every reason to despise their kind.”

“Yeah… I don’t know anything about them,” Taeil admitted. He fiddled with the hem of his jacket. “It’s only been, like-”

“Five weeks?”

Taeil nodded. “I don’t know if I’ve ever  _ met _ another one.”

“Well, they blend in with humans almost perfectly,” Seungcheol remarked.

“Almost?”

“Other supernaturals can detect their scent. Although, I’m not sure if ghosts can smell,” he said. “Vampires and mermaids, at the very least.”

“I smell?” Taeil asked.

“Like a dog,” Seungcheol said dryly. “The scent isn’t as strong with younger wolves. You know, those who only recently were turned.”

“I don’t know who turned me,” Taeil muttered.

“You didn’t manage to catch a glimpse?”

Taeil’s brow furrowed as he thought, hard. An image and a voice suddenly came flooding back to him. “Johnny,” he said.

“What?” Seungcheol said sharply.

“I think someone said the name ‘Johnny’,” he replied. “I remember these yellow eyes. The man had to be a lot taller than me. It was nearly pitch black so I couldn’t tell you any more.”

Seungcheol was quiet.

“Do you know who it is?” Taeil questioned.

“Yes, I know him,” Seungcheol said darkly. “Boy, do I know him.”


	6. Episode 6: Concerning Lord Choi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the long wait, uni started back and was hectic as it always is at the start of term. Also felt 13 chapters wouldn't be sufficient for the story arc, so updated it to 20 instead. Enjoy!

The vampire and the werewolf walked through the streets of Cornwall, crossing the bridge and heading towards the blocks of flats.

“You, uh, needn’t come, too,” Taeil said as he hurried to keep up with Seungcheol’s longer strides. “I can get my things…”

“Nonsense,” the vampire said briskly, “It’s barely out of my way at this point.”

“Okay,” Taeil mumbled. They kept walking.

“Is this it?” 

The vampire’s voice conveyed a mixture of disgust and pity as they stopped outside the run-down block of flats that Taeil called home.

“Yeah.”

“Alright, shall we go up?”

“I think the lift is working-”

“No,” Seungcheol said sharply. “I can’t abide lifts.”

“Okay, well, the stairs are round the back.”

They climbed up the metal stairs at the back of the building, shoes sounding on each step with a clang.

“There’s our window there,” Taeil began, pointing to the window nearest the next emergency exit door. He suddenly stopped climbing.

“Someone’s here,” he muttered, his brow furrowed. Seungcheol’s eyes flickered to the window of Taeil’s apartment.

“The racket your brother is making can be heard for miles,” the vampire drawled.

“Shh,” he said, placing a hand behind him, on Seungcheol’s chest. Seungcheol gave him a look and he quickly snatched his hand away. “No, I mean, someone  _ else  _ is here,” he whispered.

All they could hear was Taehyung banging pots and pans and cupboard doors inside. The hair on the back of Taeil’s neck was still standing up. Seungcheol listened. Even his advanced vampire hearing detected nothing. They exchanged a glance before continuing up the stairs. Taeil reached the fire exit door.

“Didn’t realise you’d acquired a dog in my absence,” a voice drawled from above them.

A pale man with pretty eyes and long dark hair was leaning on the upper level, his thin hands resting on the metal bannister. He wore a red leather jacket over a black shirt with a low-dipping neckline, an array of chains and necklaces resting against his skin. He wore a smirk on his angular face, his hair falling over his shoulder and shrouding one catlike eye in shadow.

“I don’t keep pets,” Seungcheol replied.

The man laughed. It was perhaps only a trick of the light, but his eyes seemed to flash red. “Not anymore, I take it.”

The werewolf’s eyes narrowed, flickering from the stranger back to Seungcheol.

“Taeil, go inside,” he told him, reaching across to open the door and practically shoving the werewolf inside.

“What?”

“Just go inside,” he hissed. “Get your things, then we’ll leave.”

“So he has a name,” the stranger remarked, swinging his legs over the bannister and jumping down. Taeil spared a backwards glance before hurrying inside the block of flats.

“Jeonghan,” Seungcheol almost growled. The long-haired man smirked, standing a few steps down from him.

“Well, well,” Jeonghan remarked, his face stretching into a Cheshire cat-like grin. His canines lengthened into sharp fangs. “Looks like the great Lord Choi got all washed up.”

“You have no business here,” he retorted, squaring his frame as he looked down at Jeonghan. Seungcheol felt some small shred of security from having the high ground, but the other man was clearly unperturbed.

“It’s a free country,” Jeonghan commented. “Didn’t we fight for that all those years ago? And besides, what’s so suspicious about visiting an old friend?”

“You and I aren’t friends,” Seungcheol grunted. “And everything is suspicious with you.”

Jeonghan laughed. “Perhaps I wanted to talk to you.”

“Perhaps you’re spying for your Clan Leader,” he countered. “What does Seungkwan want with me?”

“What do you think?” Jeonghan almost purred, taking a few steps until he was standing level with Seungcheol. The shorter man resisted taking a step backwards.

“You tell me. I don’t want trouble.”

“I know you Seungcheol.”

“You may think you do, but I was turned long before you met me,” Seungcheol replied. “Why now?”

“Seungkwan is looking for assets,” Jeonghan said, shrugging. He moved to lean on the railing, his back to Seungcheol.

“Is this about the werewolves?”

Jeonghan glanced over his shoulder, his feline eyes narrowing sharply. “So you know of the uprising?”

The other vampire kept his expression blank.  _ Uprising. _ It had been almost fifty years since the last vampire-werewolf conflict. And hadn’t been dry for much longer than that.

“It has recently come to my attention.”

“Anything I need to know?”

Seungcheol sighed. “There has been wolf activity in the locality.”

“Unsurprising,” Jeonghan remarked.

“Why so?”

“Johnny’s recruiting.”

There was a clatter at the fire exit. The door was open and a shoe lay on the floor. Taeil stood there with utter horror on his face.

_ A while earlier… _

Taeil hastily left Seungcheol on the outside stairs and went to his flat. The front door was unlocked and left ajar, clattering sounds emanating from within. Taeil nudged the door open and entered, finding his brother throwing various kitchen utensils into a backpack. Taehyung noticed him and gave a grin.

“How you doing, brother?”

“Alright, I guess,” Taeil replied. “Found a new place.”

“Fucking great!” he exclaimed with his wide grin. “So happy, mate.”

“Happy for you, too,” Taeil grunted.

“Take what you want,” said Taehyung, “I don’t need much. Hoseok already has, like, everything, so.” His eyes were bright, too bright, and his voice higher than usual.

“Right.”

Taeil left the kitchen and went to find the few items he owned in his bedroom. He started stuffing jeans and sweaters into a black bin bag when Taehyung appeared in the doorway. The shorter spared him a glance before tying up the bag and shrugging on another jacket over his clothes. When his brother didn’t move, he looked at him.

“You’re not mad?”

“Mad?” Taeil’s brow furrowed.

“Y’know, for leavin’ ya here,” Taehyung said. “You’re not mad at me?”

“Nah,” he sighed. “I’m not mad.”  _ Disappointed, sure. Not mad. Sure as hell not surprised. _

Taehyung let out a squeal, grabbing his brother in a rough hug. “So fucking happy, bro.”

Taeil patted his back until he finally let him go. Taehyung smelled of booze and weed, so he couldn’t tell if he was drunk or stoned. Or both.

“Where’s the new place?”

“It’s not permanent. Not like I’ve got a job, now.”

“Right,” said Taehyung.

“Lucky for me,” Taeil said  _ (but still unlucky, because he had been turned into a fucking werewolf), _ “I found a… friend. Are you high?”

Taehyung giggled. “Just stoned. Or maybe I took something a  _ little _ stronger…?” He still had that stupid grin on his face and was bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“Right, well,” Taeil grumbled. “Best be off.”

“Same! We’re getting evicted tomorrow.”

“Don’t fucking laugh,” Taeil said with exasperation. He ran a hand over his face. “Forget it. Goodbye, Taehyung.”

“Bye-bye, brother,” he cooed, letting Taeil shove past him with little resistance. He watched him from the kitchen as he left the flat without a backwards glance.

“Living with his dealer,” Taeil muttered as he walked down the corridor towards the fire exit, arms crammed with black bags, a pair of shoes and a frying pan. He couldn’t expect much less of his brother at this point. “Fucking hell.”

Voices drifted through the door as he got closer, and he could make out Seungcheol’s deep rumble and the stranger’s smooth baritone. Something made Taeil reach for the door handle immediately, pulling it open. But it was two words that made him freeze on the spot, door swinging at his side.

“Johnny’s recruiting.”

A lone trainer fell from his arms and bounced onto the metal floor of the staircase. Both vampires turned to look at him. Jeonghan smirked.

“Your pet returned.”

“He’s not my fucking pet,” Seungcheol growled. “Come on, Taeil. Jeonghan, we are done here.”

“As you wish,” he purred. “But consider Seungkwan’s proposal.”

“I don’t think you got around to presenting it,” Seungcheol said bitingly.

“A place in the Clan’s ranks,” he said smoothly. “A position of Command. Seungkwan is preparing the Clan for combat.”

“I’m not interested.”

“You should be,” Jeonghan pointed out. “Our kind are in danger.”

Seungcheol scoffed. “Seungkwan defeated the wolves nearly fifty years ago. They were forced to go into hiding.”

“Their numbers have been growing ever since,” he said. “You know how it is, it’s practically tradition at this point. Every fifty years or so… there’s a need for culling their numbers every once in a while.”

“Do you really want to discuss this in front of him?” Seungcheol said, gesturing to Taeil, who was still standing there awkwardly.

Jeonghan laughed. “In case he goes running to Johnny? The young Alpha already knows everything I’ve just told you. Won’t you fight with your kind?”

“I’m neutral in supernatural affairs.”

“You’re a vampire, you’ll never be fucking neutral.”

“Goodbye, Jeonghan,” Seungcheol said shortly. “Come on, Taeil.”

“Uh, okay,” he mumbled, stooping to pick up his fallen shoe. Jeonghan raised an eyebrow before swinging back up onto the roof.

“Think about my offer Lord Choi,” Jeonghan called down, almost mockingly. “You don’t want to find yourself fighting on the wrong side.”

“That’s least of my concerns,” he replied, before heading down the metal stairs, followed by Taeil.

The werewolf and the vampire left the run-down estate, past dirty flats and littered streets. Seungcheol wordlessly took the black bag off him, stuffing in the shoes and frying pan. They walked on in silence. They were almost back at the cottage before Taeil spoke.

“Who was that?”

Seungcheol glanced at him.

"That man," Taeil answered.

"An old… associate," the vampire responded.

"He was a vampire, wasn't he?" Taeil asked, sounding almost disappointed about it.

Seungcheol grunted. "So you can scent out other supernaturals now."

"Vampires smell... sort of funny," he supposed.

"And your lot smell like wet dog but you don't see me complaining," the taller grumbled.

Taeil shot him a sidelong look, and decided not to press the issue any further.

After a while, Seungcheol spoke again.

"Jeonghan isn't someone I see often," he said. "Not anymore, at least."

"You knew him before?"

"Oh, yes. Before," he muttered. "It's a bit of a long story, spanning several centuries, so I'll elect not to bore you with the details. Taekwoon was there for most of it - well, about three fifths, if you wanted to be accurate about it."

"Long time," was all Taeil could think to reply.

Seungcheol gave a long sigh in response.

"So… here we are," Taeil said as they reached the cottage.

"Please," Seungcheol murmured, gesturing for Taeil to go up the garden path.

"Thanks," Taeil mumbled, still not quite sure where he stood with the centuries-old vampire. 

Despite knowing that vampires (at least those on TV) didn't age after they were turned, it was still hard to unite the timeframe with Seungcheol's young appearance. He didn't look much older than early-twenties. But there was something about his eyes. Like… he had  _ old  _ eyes. If eyes could be old-

"Well, go inside," Seungcheol prompted, Taeil realising he had been staring at him for long enough for it to be uncomfortable.

"Right, sorry."

"TAEIL!?"

Taeil was engulfed in a massive hug. Taekwoon was beside himself, jumping up and down as he squeezed the werewolf in a tight embrace. The merman pulled back, grinning. Taekwoon picked up Taeil's fallen belongings, stuffing them back into the werewolf's arms and practically dragging him inside the cottage by the scruff of his neck.

Seungcheol gave a small chuckle before following them inside, closing the front door behind him.


End file.
